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BLOGARITHMIC THINKING

Jun 4

Kenneth MacCallum in Engineering | No comments

Designing BLDC motor drive electronics

Quick experiment driving a brushless motor using the “smooth max” drive waveform

Brushless, direct current (BLDC) motors are one of the options for motion control solutions in medical device development. BLDC motors typically offer higher power, higher efficiency, and lower wear than comparably sized motors of other types. The main challenge in incorporating these motors is the complexity in the drive electronics and control strategy. As an example, we recently developed the Winnipeg Ventilator 2.0, which uses a BLDC motor at its core.

Jun 4

Alexandra Reid in Regulatory | No comments

Pathways to a FDA Approved or Cleared Medical Device

Chutes and Ladders –

Commercializing your medical device in the US market requires submitting marketing applications to the FDA to become an FDA Approved or Cleared Medical Device. The content of your FDA submission is determined by how your medical device is classified into one of three Classes (I, II, or II), based on the degree of risk it presents. If your product falls into the Class I/II exemptions, it will only require device registration and listing with FDA. For Class II and III devices, there are several pathways to market.

Jun 4

Nathan Muller in Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Uncategorized | No comments

3D Printed Parts Streamline Development Process

This blog provides a context for designers to streamline their development process using 3D printed parts as a part of their market-ready medical devices. 3D printing is disruptive. It challenges the way that designers consider product development. Contrasted with traditional fabrication methods, 3D printing offers several benefits along with certain limitations. Regulatory agencies are providing guidance to 3D printed component testing and process control, which allows for 3D printed parts to be included in medical devices once they are defined by the manufacturer.

Jun 3

Nigel Syrotuck in Engineering, StarFish Culture | No comments

What Does the Ideal Medtech Co-Op Look Like?

StarFish Medical hires many engineering students for medtech co-op positions in our product design department. A question I get asked a lot is: “what does the ideal medtech co-op look like to you?” The answer is complex and can vary.

Everyone has their own strengths, but there are some general things that we look for across different families of skills and characteristics. Keeping in mind that it’s never a ‘one size fits all’ situation, here is what I say to someone who asks me what the ideal medtech co-op looks like:

Our Ideal Co-ops Fit the Culture

They are innovative in their approach to problems. They dig deeper and take initiative to do so. They are open about their knowledge, or lack thereof, and welcome accountability; they are responsible and honest. They are focused on learning and inquisitive. They want to get better and make StarFish Medical better too. They are a team player and enthusiastic about taking on challenges.

End-Goal Oriented

Ideal co-ops keep the user and patient in mind first and foremost and use these people to drive toward the end goals, not just the next milestone. For example, if asked to design a low-cost information collection system, they step back from the technical jargon and realize that all the user really wants is a pencil and paper.

Product Design Mindset

We want someone with a passion for product design. They are someone who sees things in their life and asks “why is it done that way?” – like the Engineer Guy on YouTube. This particular video is a great example of “I saw a thing in my life, I investigated how it works, and I’m fascinated by the innovation and the design choices”. Building up a mental catalogue of product design options and understanding why they work is a key strength for product designers.

Excellent Time Management and Communications

You might be thinking that anyone who can survive an undergraduate degree knows about time management. While it’s true that university will help you build a lot of time management and communication skills, a consulting environment adds a whole new factor to the game: an hourly budget. Our ideal co-op is efficient with their time, and capable of realizing when it’s time to stop, ask the right questions, and be vulnerable enough to say “I don’t know”.

Practical Experience

Obviously, someone who has worked in a medical product consulting environment is ideal, but that isn’t the only way to gain practical experience. Other work and school project experiences are also great, but not the whole story. Have you fixed your car or bike? Have you built a bird feeder or a garden box? These are all great experiences as long as you kept the “why” in mind. How did the bike designer consider reparability in their design? Why did you decide to make your garden box out of plywood instead of beams? Intentional design in anything from simple to complex projects will translate into learnings for next time, and that’s the type of progressive experience we’re looking for.

A Caution…

It can be easy to fall into the “I am all of those things” mindset when reading the above, but there is an obvious difference during interviews between co-ops who could be these things, if asked, and those who push to do these things on their own. The easiest way around this pitfall is to ask yourself, “what did I learn (maybe the hard way) in my practical experience?”, or “what insights can I bring to these skill sets?” and use that to gauge your action logic.

With That Being Said…

Don’t be afraid to apply! No one fits the mould perfectly, and we have never actually had an ‘ideal’ co-op work for us (sorry to break it to those ex-co-ops), just like we have never actually had an ‘ideal’ full-time staff member (apologies to my coworkers). ‘Ideal’ is something to aspire to, not a benchmark to hold yourself to.

Overall, we’re looking for the same thing from our co-ops as we look for in full-time employees: someone who drives to improve patient outcomes, makes our clients successful and makes StarFish Medical better. If you’re interested in a co-op term with us, you can find out more about our process here from someone with first-hand experience, and we encourage you to apply We accept work placements throughout the year for exceptional students who have completed at least three years of their program. Please see our Co-op Placements page for more information. The deadline is generally very early in the academic semester before the upcoming work term (e.g., in mid-January for the May-August semester).

Nigel Syrotuck is a StarFish Medical Team Lead Mechanical Engineer and frequent guest blogger for medical device media including MD+DI, Medical Product Outsourcing, and Medtech Intelligence. He works on projects big and small and blogs on everything in-between.

May 4

Ryan Field in Engineering | No comments

Choosing a Medical Device Camera Sensor

Medical Device Camera Sensor Resolution and Pixel Size

Camera sensors are key components of video microscopes and endoscopes, fluorescence imagers, X-ray detectors, multiplexed detectors (i.e. detectors that measure/quantify more than one thing at a time), spectrometers, and imaging interferometers. With many options available and many specifications to consider, choosing a camera sensor for a medical device can be a daunting task. This blog series covers technical trade-offs to consider when incorporating a visible or near-infrared range camera sensor into a medical device.

May 3

Joshua Hayes in Engineering | No comments

Optical Safety for Ophthalmic Instruments

This blog covers the optical safety limits and maximum exposure limits of wavelengths in the IR, UV and visible light spectrum for ophthalmic instruments. Optical safety for ophthalmic instruments focuses on ocular exposure limits because the eyes are the most light-sensitive part of the body and ophthalmic instruments are intended to interface directly with the eyes during diagnosis and treatments.

May 3

Kenneth MacCallum in Engineering | No comments

Strategies to Maximize Medical Device Optical Signals

A common challenge when designing medical devices that make optical measurements is ensuring the optical system state remains correlated with sensor measurements in order to maximize medical device optical signals.

The sort of device I’m speaking of achieves its measurement by illuminating something and collecting the scattered or transmitted light. For this conversation, that “something” could be part of a patient, or maybe an assay involving a sample from a patient.

May 3

Brian King in Engineering, Uncategorized | No comments

Coupling Light from LEDs and Light Guides in Medical Devices

Moulded plastic light guides are an inexpensive means to “pipe” light around inside a medical device. Their design process makes light guides amenable to a variety of shapes and sizes. Applications include delivering light to an indicator, a switch, or a peripheral diagnostic attachment, thus, these optical guides are an attractive technology for solving a light-transport problem in a medical device.

Apr 3

Arash Samimi in Business, Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Product Development | No comments

Medical Device Design for the Developing World

“We need to think about medical device as a system that delivers an operational capability.”

I saw a picture of a dumping ground for medical devices in Malawi. This made me wonder – why are there so many nonfunctional and broken medical devices in low-income regions of the globe?

Apr 3

Lorenzo Gutierrez in Uncategorized | No comments

Microfluidics for molecular and serological diagnostic tests

More than a year into the pandemic, there have been over 120 million people infected by the COVID-19 virus globally and almost 3 million deaths. Over 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered¹.

Apr 3

Joris van der Heijden in Biotech, Product Development | No comments

Designing Point of Care Diagnostics

It is all about the sample

Point-Of-Care Testing (POCT) has seen a large uptake over the past year driven by the need for on-site testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We see that often companies focus their attention on one specific sample type and subsequent sample preparation (e.g. blood or nasopharyngeal samples) and build a platform and market around the constraints of that sample type.

Apr 3

Susan Bantroch in Biotech, Product Development | No comments

Simulated Fluids for POCT Development

An expensive pitfall when developing or optimizing a point-of-care device is to jump straight into using clinical samples to steer early design development. Developing or optimizing a point-of-care device is a multi-faceted process.

ABOUT US

BLOGARITHMIC THINKING

Chutes and Ladders –

StarFish Medical hires many engineering students for medtech co-op positions in our product design department. A question I get asked a lot is: “what does the ideal medtech co-op look like to you?” The answer is complex and can vary.

Everyone has their own strengths, but there are some general things that we look for across different families of skills and characteristics. Keeping in mind that it’s never a ‘one size fits all’ situation, here is what I say to someone who asks me what the ideal medtech co-op looks like:

Medical Device Camera Sensor Resolution and Pixel Size

A common challenge when designing medical devices that make optical measurements is ensuring the optical system state remains correlated with sensor measurements in order to maximize medical device optical signals.

The sort of device I’m speaking of achieves its measurement by illuminating something and collecting the scattered or transmitted light. For this conversation, that “something” could be part of a patient, or maybe an assay involving a sample from a patient.

“We need to think about medical device as a system that delivers an operational capability.”

I saw a picture of a dumping ground for medical devices in Malawi. This made me wonder – why are there so many nonfunctional and broken medical devices in low-income regions of the globe?

More than a year into the pandemic, there have been over 120 million people infected by the COVID-19 virus globally and almost 3 million deaths. Over 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered1.

It is all about the sample

An expensive pitfall when developing or optimizing a point-of-care device is to jump straight into using clinical samples to steer early design development. Developing or optimizing a point-of-care device is a multi-faceted process.

Categories

More than a year into the pandemic, there have been over 120 million people infected by the COVID-19 virus globally and almost 3 million deaths. Over 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered¹.